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Worry over the enormous state debt consumed the minds of many Virginians during 1878. From political forums to private discussions people tried to come up with ways to solve the problem of the state debt and to hopefully to not increase taxes. In an open letter to the women of Virginia, Miss E. Maury came up with a plan to fix the state's problems by the mobilization of women. She reasoned that since...

In August of 1853, the southern states enthusiastically showed off the intellect of their Lieutenant Matthew Maury. Maury was a Southerner born in Fredericksburg, Virginia on January 14, 1806. He became an esteemed officer of the United States Navy as the pioneer researcher of winds, currents, and oceanography. He became popular not only in the Navy, but also in the civilian sector because his work...

Kansas began the process of beginning to apply for statehood in late summer 1857. First, the citizens had to come up with and ratify a state constitution. Proslavery forces within the state drew up the so-called Lecompton Constitution' at a convention which Free Soil parties boycotted. Indeed, at the Convention there was never any option to vote against slavery. The proslavery forces refused...

With this inauguration, James K. Polk, a slaveholding cotton planter from Tennessee, took over the American presidency from his predecessor, John Tyler, a states' rights Virginian who had disagreed with the Democratic Party over the issue of nullification. Polk had two main goals while he was in the office of president: he wanted to promote a program of economic reform that would bring down the 1842...

Andrew Jackson, otherwise known as Old Hickory' and a man of the people', was the 7th President of the United States, and the first to hail from a state other than Virginia or Massachusetts. Born in a backwoods area in the Carolinas, Jackson served during the American Revolution and eventually ended up as a lawyer in Tennessee. His later distinguished military career included the Tennessee...

Communicating with the General Assembly, Governor Holliday of Virginia spoke about the dismal financial situation of the Old Dominion. According to The Washington Post he declared he could find no excuse for the denial of the debt' and that the state was bound morally and legally to pay this debt.' In response to calls for a constitutional convention to solve remedy the situation, he thought...

A male Virginian delegate spoke at a Women's Suffrage Convention on January 9, 1878. According to the Daily Dispatch, he made the well applauded comment that those engaged in the women's movement were the advanced guard of civilization.' Also according the newspaper he spoke about a broad range of subjects that was long and rather boring to the audience. However, this does not diminish the significance...

On January 11, 1878 an interesting article appeared in The Washington Post about the issue of women's suffrage. The author stated that women have been credited with gentility, humility, and upstanding morals throughout the centuries and many believed they would clean up politics if they won the right to vote. However, in his own personal belief, the author takes the exact opposite view. He proclaimed...

A newspaper in Barnwell, South Carolina reported in their May 11 edition that the Southern Railroad had purchased the Carolina Midland, a main road that cut across the state. The Railroad had recently purchased the South Carolina and the Georgia road. The Railroad intended to use this road to construct a direct line from Columbia, SC to Savannah, GA. Cities like Barnwell paid close attention to the...

It was only one day after Valentine's Day, 1838, and twenty-one year old William Byrd was missing his future wife, Mariah Hawkins Massie. Away at Lagrange College in Franklin County, Alabama, it is possible that William had not seen Mariah in quite some time. Possibly being wrapped up in the spirit of the holiday, William sat down to write Mariah a letter. Already betrothed, William pleasured in the...